Name: Hoskote VenkateshAge: 60Hometown: Laguna Niguel, Calif.Connection to your teammate: FatherCurrent occupation: ER DoctorDescribe what you do: I take care of acute medical, surgical and traumatic emergencies. I’m also involved in the teaching of medical residents.3 words to describe you: Decisive, resourceful and reliable.Favorite hobbies: Traveling, acting (Shakespearean Theater) and hiking (Naina is training with me to trek up Mt. Kilimanjaro). What is the accomplishment you are most proud of? I’m most proud of my children, who have grown up to be well-educated, cultured, confident young people. Most importantly, they are good, honest citizens who I would love to have as my friends if they were not my children.What famous person reminds you of yourself? Hugh Grant – suave, sophisticated and debonair.What famous person reminds you of your teammate? Mila Kunis – cute, vivacious, talented and fun-loving.What scares you most about traveling? Nothing about traveling really scares me. I do realize, however, that one must be careful and I take sensible precautions for health and safety. The thrill of traveling is in venturing into and exploring unfamiliar places.What excites you most about traveling? Traveling excites me because it allows me to venture into and explore unfamiliar places and cultures. I gain new perspectives into people, places and things.Biggest challenge you and your teammate will face on The Race together: As an ER physician, I am accustomed to making final decisions which must be implemented immediately without questions. Given that temperament, I am not always receptive to others’ thoughts and ideas. It is my hope to change that by being more open to Naina’s thoughts and ideas, which admittedly are sometimes better than mine!Pet peeve about your teammate: She buys too many clothes, which I think she doesn’t wear. (Although, she says she does!)What country and place would you most like to visit and why? I would love to visit China. A country previously closed to the West is now opening its doors. I would love to learn about and explore its rich culture, tradition and people.What do you hope to accomplish by running The Race (other than winning one million bucks)? Both of us are headstrong and highly opinionated. The Race will help us, if not force us, to learn how to compromise and work with one another as we strive towards a mutual goal of winning the Race.

Name:Naina VenkateshAge: 27Hometown: Laguna NiguelConnection to your teammate: DaughterCurrent occupation: Fitness InstructorDescribe what you do: I get to inspire and empower people to invest time in themselves and their relationships by altering the way they perceive their physical health. I strive to help others lead a well-balanced life filled with energy, commitment and enthusiasm.3 words to describe you: Resilient, opinionated and adventurous.Favorite hobbies: Dancing, water sports and cooking.What is the accomplishment you are most proud of? Graduating from USC with honors.What famous person reminds you of yourself? Anne Hathaway – beautiful personality. She loves to laugh, talented and fit.What famous person reminds you of your teammate? Dr. Rey, a.k.a. Dr. 90210 – not only do they physically resemble each other but the combination of intelligence and sophistication is identical.What scares you most about traveling? What scares me the most is falling sick or being kidnapped.What excites you most about traveling? Being able to immerse myself completely in a new environment, absorbing the sights, sounds and history around me. And through this process, hopefully discovering more of who I am and what I stand for.Biggest challenge you and your teammate will face on The Race together: Most of the time we both think that we are right. Being able to quickly resolve an issue without raising our voices or being unwilling to relent is something I hope this race allows us to work on. We are in unfamiliar territory during the Race so my wish is that we work out any kinks by compromising quickly and doing what’s best within the circumstance we find ourselves in.Pet peeve about your teammate: I don’t know if it’s deliberate or not, but I think my dad chooses to have selective hearing. Most times when I am talking to him I’ll have to repeat questions several times before he sometimes will acknowledge that he is listening to me. And then while I am still talking to him, he’ll walk away stating that his mind is elsewhere. It can be frustrating!What country and place would you most like to visit and why? I would love to go to Kenya and go on an African Safari or visit Egypt to experience the rich and ancient cultural history first hand.What do you hope to accomplish by running The Race (other than winning one million bucks)? I come from a big family, so I have never been able to travel alone with my dad. I see this as an opportunity for adventure and exploration; where I get my dad all to myself and we are able to discover how we could improve upon our relationship as father/daughter but at the same time stay true to who we are as individuals.

« Last Edit: January 13, 2014, 08:09:18 AM by georgiapeach »

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

Hopefully as they run the Race we will see their relationship evolve, similar to what happened to Ron & Christina in Season 12. Tension is possible, but I don't see this team having more than an average amount of it. Also, it is always interesting to watch the parent/child teams in which the parent is more tied to his/her native culture while the child is more familiar with American culture. It brings an unusual dynamic to the cast.

Amazing Race's Hoskote and Naina: We Deliberately Did the Roadblock Incorrectly

Sep 30, 2013 02:57 PM ETby Joyce Eng

Father and daughter Hoskote and Naina became the first team eliminated on Season 23 of The Amazing Race after they were one of three teams that misread a clue — or so it seemed. Though Naina mistakenly started the boating Roadblock before Hoskote took over, it actually wasn't a blunder at all. "They didn't air that whole part, but that was intentional that I did it first," Naina tells TVGuide.cocom. Why did they do that? Find out below.

What was it like watching the episode?Hoskote: It was tough, beyond disappointing. We've been rabid fans of the show since 2003. I think they've created this magnificent show ... and it's the best reality show on TV. It should get an Emmy every year. Having said that, to be eliminated under the circumstances, it was tough because we could've controlled some of them, but we couldn't control them because of the rules of the Race.

What do you mean?Hoskote: You had to take one of the two flights the show booked. Between the first and second flights, there was going to be a 30-minute gap between when they landed in Santiago, Chile. Then there was a one-hour window from Santiago to Iquique. Once we arrived there, we could've all gotten on the same flight to Iquique. They didn't show this on TV, but unfortunately, there was a hurricane in Dallas and our flight went through Dallas, so we knew we were going to be three hours late into Santiago. ... If we were allowed to use our own navigation skills and our chutzpah to get to Chile any way we want, maybe we wouldn't have been three hours late. But the rules didn't allow that. We ended up being three and a half hours late, so seven teams were completing the leg before our flight had even arrived in Chile.

You seemed to be doing OK until that taxi got lost to the paragliding destination.Naina: We left the paragliding place second. I don't know if he technically got lost, but he took a very convoluted route, so I ended up picking up my dad much later than everyone else. We had a lot of issues with our taxi driver because he ended up not really knowing where he was going. That ended up being a death sentence. We lost at least a half hour. By the time we got to the boating, we didn't have an opportunity to catch up. Hoskote: The taxi we could've overcome if there were more teams. If we had input into the choice of the flight and we picked the wrong flight and arrived late, that's our problem. But we had no choice. That hurt the most.

Did you consider getting a new taxi?Naina: It was hard getting a taxi so that would've cost more time and we knew we were last. To have that kind of delay was difficult with just four teams.

So many teams misread clues, including you. What happened? Were you in a hurry?Naina: This is actually what happened. We knew we were last and when we arrived at the boating, the other teams were finishing up. We knew it was the end. We did read the clue incorrectly at first ... but what happened was we realized we had read the clue incorrectly, but my dad told me to do it because we knew it was the end and he wanted me to do something. It was actually deliberate that I got into the boat.

Otherwise he would've gone paragliding and you would've just sat in a taxi.Naina: [Laughs] Right. I had done absolutely nothing until then. I did want to leave The Amazing Race without doing a task. There was no harm because we were last, so we might as well just enjoy it.

Why did you change? Were you actually going to complete the task and incur a penalty?Naina: I got tired and it was getting late and we had to wrap things up. My dad actually did it very well. It was winter in Iquique when we filmed, and I don't think people realized that. It was pretty much dark when we arrived. That's why there was a big change in daylight. We got into Iquique around 3:30, 4 in the afternoon, so there wasn't much daylight left.

Do you know how far behind you ultimately were?Naina: At least a good half-hour, probably more. We knew there was no chance even if someone got a penalty.Hoskote: This was our dream to do the show for years. Once we knew the die was cast and it was not going to happen for us, I said, "OK, honey, go do it and at least soak up the experience." That's the way the cookie crumbles. I knew I was supposed to do it, but I wanted her to do something other than sitting in a taxi like you said.

What are you up to now?Naina: Back to our everyday lives. We'd like a second chance if they're able to hear us. I honestly don't feel like we got to do what we came to do. We didn't get to use the skills that we have. We are smart people. We have a lot of ingenuity and a lot of wherewithal to do this Race extremely well, and the circumstances were just so much against us. I felt like we had no control over anything in the first leg and it just so happened that everything went wrong. We had delays, we had incompetent taxi drivers. If things had gone a little more smoothly, I think we would've done very well on this first leg.

The "Father and Daughter" became the first team eliminated from the around-the-world competition after they arrived at the Race's first Pit Stop at the Teatro Municipal De Iquique in Iquique, Chile in last place.

In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Monday, Hoskote and Naina talked about their The Amazing Race experience and early ouster. Below is the first half of their interview. Check back with us on Tuesday for the concluding portion.

Reality TV World: How far behind Brandon Squyres and Adam Switzer do you think you finally arrived at the Pit Stop?

Hoskote Venkatesh: To be honest with you, I'm not sure.

Naina Venkatesh: Yeah, I mean, after we realized that they were pretty much done with the Roadblock. It really honestly didn't feel like it mattered anymore to finish the task in any amount of time that we wanted to, because we knew that we were going to be eliminated, so there was no rush.

Reality TV World: It seemed like you fell behind the pack -- who were on your same flight -- when Naina, you were looking for your father's landing spot as he was paragliding. Once you reunited, Naina, you told him you thought the cab driver might've taken a longer route, so what exactly happened there?

Naina Venkatesh: Well I can only assume, right? So there was obviously a language barrier, but I tried my best to tell him to hurry up and get there as quickly as possible with my limited amount of Spanish. But I got a really bad feeling as we -- a few minutes after we left the area when he started calling people and taking all these quick turns.

It did seem like a very convoluted route to get there. I don't think the organizers of the Race would do something so intricate, and the route to actually go pick up my Dad, the fact that I left second and when I arrived there and he said, "Oh the last team left a good 15-20 minutes ago," I was speechless.

But in my timing, I felt like I knew something was wrong. There was a ride in the taxi where I felt like he didn't really know where he was going.

Reality TV World: Any idea how much time you spent driving around?

Naina Venkatesh: Not really because I was just worried. I just wanted to get there as quickly as possible. I've never been to Iquique, so I could only muster so much enthusiasm and direction in that location because I've never been there before. But it did feel like a lot longer than it needed to be.

Reality TV World: It seemed like you both didn't read the second Roadblock task's clue carefully enough and Hoskote was supposed to do the task when you, Naina, started it. How quickly did you realize the wrong person was doing the task and you had to switch? The show edited it to appear like Naina, you realized you had made a mistake almost immediately.

Naina Venkatesh: Well actually, yeah, the show portrayed it as reading the clue incorrectly, which we initially did. However, what wasn't shown on-camera is actually right after, we realized immediately that my Dad had to do it. But the fact that I actually did the task was very deliberate. Brandon had finished, so we pretty much knew that we were going to be eliminated.

And I had done nothing all day. I was pretty much just riding airplanes and sitting in taxis, and the fact that I would've left this experience having done nothing wasn't acceptable to me nor my Dad.

I wanted to do something that would be memorable so that I could have at least some kind of experience in Iquique. So my Dad, being as loving and as adoring of me as he is, he basically said, "You do the task. I want you to have some sort of experience here." And he's just a wonderful Dad like that, that he didn't want me to miss out on anything.

So I went ahead and did the task, and there just came a point basically where I got tired and it was getting late and we had to wrap up. So I just came on back and my Dad finished the task, and despite what may have been shown, it was actually already pretty late. In Iquique, it's winter there, so it gets dark really fast. So people assumed that he took a very long time to do it. He actually did it quite quickly.

Reality TV World: If you both had known prior to the paragliding task that the person to paraglide must also be the person to do the rowboat Roadblock task, do you think you would've made the same choice and had Hoskote do both or no?

Hoskote Venkatesh: It's self-serving, but I just adore this young lady, and so I wanted her to get as much -- because both of us love the show to death. It should get an Emmy every year as far as I'm concerned. It's the best reality show on television, so we wanted her and me -- but more her than me -- to get all the experience that we can get adventure-wise.

So when we realized that the first clue was a little bit convoluted, I thought she was going to do the paragliding. But when I realized that she was the one who was going to take the ride in the taxi, then I realized the second time that I would have to do the other one too and I'd get to do the boating.

But I wanted her [to do it] because she had done nothing all day, so I said, "Let her do it. We already lost anyway, so I would like to have her have some fun!" So I had her do the task.

Reality TV World: You both seemed athletic and adventurous, and Naina, you admitted you wanted to paraglide but you thought it'd be a great opportunity for your Dad. If you had stayed in the Race, do you think you two would both kind of fight over the thrilling, scary tasks -- or did either of you bring certain strengths to the table you'd take into account when choosing who does what Roadblock, like maybe one of you has a better memory than the other or something like that?

Naina Venkatesh: Certainly. Certainly. When it came to more of the adventure stuff, when we were pretty much in tandem with someone else and it was jumping out of airplanes or rappelling or ziplining -- we probably would've been fighting over that, because we're both very much adrenaline junkies.

We seek adventure and we're not afraid of anything, because we know that we're not going to get hurt. And why pass up an opportunity like this?

However, when it comes to things like memory and eating and more skilled things like that, we definitely had our partition on who would do what. I would do the eating tasks and probably the memory tasks.

However, my Dad obviously being a man, he's stronger than I am. So he probably would've done more of the physical tasks because he could finish it a lot quicker. So we did have a strategy going in. Unfortunately, our experience was cut short. (Laughs)

We could go on as to why it happened to us. We had very bad luck. America didn't really get to see what we were capable of. We were a force to be reckoned with. I really think so. And given the circumstances that we were put in, it just didn't come out. And if we had had the opportunity to not have that significant delay in flight, that really, really put us behind.

And the fact that the taxi also put us significantly behind as well, just everything went wrong with the things that were kind of out of our control.

Above is the first half of Hoskote and Naina's exclusive interview with Reality TV World. Check back with us on Tuesday for the concluding portion.

Hoskote and Naina talk answered YOUR questions about the Race and talk about being the first team eliminated from the game.

Charleigh R: Even if it was short lived, would you do it again if they did a episode and brought teams back from all episodes that were eliminated in the 1st round?Hoskote: Absolutely, we would love to do the show again. We were so prepared and we need a chance to redeem ourselves. We have all the skills necessary to go all the way. In different circumstances we could have done it. This is my favorite reality show and I just wish I could prove what we are capable of. Naina: Absolutely, in a heartbeat we would do this again. We left the competition early and there were a lot of things we didn't get to do. We didn't enter the competition to leave first and would return in a heartbeat.

Holly B: I know that you weren't racing for very long, but I feel like even one leg would be better then none. That being said, what was your favorite/ most memorable part of the experience?Naina: Probably just the overall experience of doing it together. We are very grateful for this opportunity and we worked hard to get there. We followed the show for so long and we are very blessed to be here. I think just doing it with my dad was the best. Hoskote: I want to thank the whole team for having the confident and trust to select us. We dreamt of this for years and wish we could have done better. We'd love to come back and have another chance to show what we are capable of

Elisa J: If you could do this all over again what would you have done differently to avoid getting eliminated first?Hoskote: Driven at 150 mile per hour. I don't drive at breakneck speed and I wish I had done that. I did not want to put my daughter in jeopardy by driving fast but maybe I should have drove faster. Naina: I think as individuals and as a team we couldn't have done anything differently. We didn't want to do anything too quickly and we were calm and took our time. When we found out that we had a significantly delayed flight we were very upset that we couldn't control that situation. When we got to Iquique we did everything we were asked but we got an incompetent taxi driver

eborah B: Who do you hope the winners of last night's episode should give the second express pass to? Why?Hoskote: I wish we were in that situation. Naina: We actually didn't get to know the other teams. I don't know on a personal level who I would give it to, but if I had to make a choice I probably would have given it to Oklahoma or the bearded guys

Haley M: What is your advice for anyone considering trying out to be on The Amazing Race?Hoskote: GO FOR IT! This is the best show on Television. It is so much fun. I would tell anyone who likes to travel and likes adventure to go for it. Naina: I would definitely say go for it and let your personality shine through. Be genuine about who you are. Show your passion for the show and wanting to race around the world. Don't give up on your dreams. Keep auditioning until it happens

Melis A: I am sorry that you were eliminated first. How long did it take you to complete the fishing leg?Naina: Not that long. We got into Iquique late afternoon and daylight is really short in the winter. It actually didn't take us very long but it got dark really early.

Tracy M: Although you didn't make it very far in the race, how did you enjoy your experience shared with your dad/daughter?Naina: It was one of the best experiences I've had in my life. I'm not going to lie I was very disappointed it was only one leg but I was very grateful to do it with my dad. We can look back on it fondly and we hope we get another chance to do it again.

So many teams misread clues, including you. What happened? Were you in a hurry?Naina: This is actually what happened. We knew we were last and when we arrived at the boating, the other teams were finishing up. We knew it was the end. We did read the clue incorrectly at first ... but what happened was we realized we had read the clue incorrectly, but my dad told me to do it because we knew it was the end and he wanted me to do something. It was actually deliberate that I got into the boat.

IDK. I have re-watched the episode, and it doesn't seem like that. Anyways, I'll believe them.

Interesting. Now that I think about it, the way it appeared makes a little more sense now that I hear from them what really happened. I was surprised when it got dark so suddenly because usually when there are several teams doing a task at once we see the sun set gradually.

But honestly, it is sad to me that they were the first ones out, and especially that they had such rotten luck. They did seem like a potentially strong team, and a good team to root for.